Farmers are expected to enjoy this favorable outlook for the rest of the year, unless the arrival of contracted imports by the private sector and the government would coincide with the country’s harvest season.

The extension of the lockdown in Metro Manila and other parts of the country has led prices to consistently go up as demand for the staple soared after LGUs, national agencies and numerous nonprofit organizations intensified relief efforts.

A lot of families—whose incomes are tied to nonessential industries that were ordered to close or operate on a skeleton staff—still rely on aid, which always include rice.

The highest quotations for a kilo palay were recorded in the provinces of Negros Occidental (P25.70), Bohol (P24), Zamboanga del Sur (P24.09), Bukidnon (P23.55), Davao del Sur (P23.50) and North Cotabato (P23.80).

Other provinces whose palay rates were still below the NFA support price of P20 a kilo included Kalinga (P16), Ilocos Sur (P15), and Bukidnon, Bulacan, Davao City and Iloilo (P13).

Globally, rice prices have surged to their highest in seven years as governments beef up their respective stocks.

Countries in Asia, including the Philippines, have pushed for programs that would aggressively bring up rice production to ease dependence on what has become a volatile global rice market. INQ

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